Skip to Content Facebook Feature Image

Abrams' 2-run triple in 11th helps Nats beat Angels; Washington's Wood walked intentionally 4 times

Sport

Abrams' 2-run triple in 11th helps Nats beat Angels; Washington's Wood walked intentionally 4 times
Sport

Sport

Abrams' 2-run triple in 11th helps Nats beat Angels; Washington's Wood walked intentionally 4 times

2025-06-30 08:04 Last Updated At:08:11

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — CJ Abrams' two-run triple capped a three-run 11th inning, and Washington's James Wood became the sixth player in MLB history to be intentionally walked four times as the Nationals beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-4 on Sunday.

Daylen Lile led off the 11th with a single off Connor Brogdon (1-1) and automatic runner Brady House advanced to third. Drew Miles doubled and drove in the go-ahead run before Abrams tripled, giving the Nationals their first series win Anaheim since 2005 — their first season after relocating from Montreal.

More Images
Los Angeles Angels' Jo Adell hits an RBI single to tie the game during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Los Angeles Angels' Jo Adell hits an RBI single to tie the game during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Daylen Lile is greeted by teammates after scoring during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Daylen Lile is greeted by teammates after scoring during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Drew Millas, left, gestures after hitting an RBI double during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Drew Millas, left, gestures after hitting an RBI double during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Drew Millas gestures after hitting an RBI double during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Drew Millas gestures after hitting an RBI double during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams, second from right, gestures after hitting an RBI triple during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angelsm Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams, second from right, gestures after hitting an RBI triple during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angelsm Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Wood went 1 for 2 and then was given a free pass his next four times up. Closer Kyle Finnegan (1-2) pitched three hitless innings for the win.

Lile doubled off the glove of Nolan Schanuel at first to begin the ninth against Angels closer Kenley Jansen, and Miles bunted him to third. Young singled for a 4-all tie.

Taylor Ward's double drove in a first-inning run off Nationals starter Mitchell Parker, who allowed three runs in five innings.

Washington tied it in the fourth off starter Jack Kochanowicz on an RBI double by House. The Nationals took a 2-1 lead the next inning on a double-play grounder by Luis García Jr.

Ward had another of his three doubles before scoring on a Jo Adell single to tie it in the sixth. Christian Moore followed with a two-out single for a 3-2 lead.

Young walked with two outs and scored on a double by Abrams to tie it 3-all

Luis Rengifo tripled in the eighth before scoring on a two-out wild pitch by Jose A. Ferrer, putting the Angels up 4-3.

Wood became the first major leaguer since Barry Bonds to be intentionally walked four times. Bonds was intentionally walked four times in four different games in 2004. The only other players since at least 1955 to be intentionally walked four times in a game are Wood, Roger Maris, Garry Templeton, Manny Ramirez and Andre Dawson — who drew five intentional passes for the Chicago Cubs against Cincinnati on May 22, 1990.

Jansen's first blown save in 16 opportunities prevented the Angels from moving above .500 for the first time since April 20, when they were 11-10.

The Nationals begin a six-game homestand Tuesday with the first of three against the Tigers. Neither team has named a starter.

The Angels begin a six-game trip Tuesday in Atlanta and haven't named a starter opposite Braves rookie RHP Didier Fuentes (0-2, 10.80 ERA).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Los Angeles Angels' Jo Adell hits an RBI single to tie the game during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Los Angeles Angels' Jo Adell hits an RBI single to tie the game during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Daylen Lile is greeted by teammates after scoring during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Daylen Lile is greeted by teammates after scoring during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Drew Millas, left, gestures after hitting an RBI double during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Drew Millas, left, gestures after hitting an RBI double during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Drew Millas gestures after hitting an RBI double during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' Drew Millas gestures after hitting an RBI double during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams, second from right, gestures after hitting an RBI triple during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angelsm Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams, second from right, gestures after hitting an RBI triple during the 11th inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angelsm Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”

The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.

With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?

“It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know.”

Trump, in his administration's National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.

Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he's made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.

Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's foundational document as the “Don-roe Doctrine.”

Saturday's dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump’s comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has "no right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.

“I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.

Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected” as Trump has vowed to “run” Venezuela and pressed the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.

Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark’s efforts at boosting Greenland’s national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory’s arsenal.

Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON."

“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Amb. Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

During his presidential transition and in the early months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has pointedly not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island that belongs to an ally.

The issue had largely drifted out of the headlines in recent months. Then Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would appoint Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland.

The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Meanwhile, concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Rubio, in an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.

“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” The secretary of state added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of “internal intelligence” in Maduro’s government, including “who spies on who inside, to make sure there are no traitors.”

Trump said that “a lot” of Cuban guards tasked with protecting Maduro were killed in the operation. The Cuban government said in a statement read on state television on Sunday evening that 32 officers were killed in the U.S. military operation.

Trump also said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, is in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided the Caribbean island subsidized oil.

“It's going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It's going down for the count.”

Cuban authorities called a rally in support of Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”

Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.

“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States," Rubio said.

Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez were following developments in Venezuela. She said she worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”

“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs,” Rodríguez said.

AP writers Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, and Darlene Superville traveling aboard Air Force One contributed reporting.

In this photo released by the White House, President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House via AP)

In this photo released by the White House, President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House via AP)

Recommended Articles